PISA Tests to Start Global Skills Assessment Category

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is looking to introduce a new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test that will determine 15 year old children’s knowledge of global and cultural issues.

The new school assessment criteria would come into effect in 2018, giving schools within the OECD membership countries (around 80 including the UK) time to prepare their students accordingly.

The current criteria revolves around the core subjects maths, reading and science and will augment to include ‘Global Competence’ according to the G7 Education Ministers at a meeting in Kurashiki, Japan.

Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa claims that:

“In many countries, social cohesion, the bedrock for collaboration, is growing weaker. The challenge now is to embed global competence in schools around the world so that young people are better equipped for today’s fast-changing, globalised world,”

The OECD believe that education needs to be focused more on globalisation because it will affect young people needing to cooperate and sometimes integrate with other cultures. A sound knowledge of one’s own culture and others’ is key to success in this area, so too are lessons in flexibility and acceptance as pupils must understand that one’s beliefs are ‘inevitably partial’.

About The Author

In his capacity as an education correspondent, Marco has covered a wide variety of topics on various platforms including local school news, university magazines and academic journals. He has also written about music festivals and pop-science subjects such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Marco has a background advertising technology including that of top oligopolistic companies such as Microsoft.